Plea deal in killing of Leiby Kletzky

NEW YORK

Levi Aron (center) confers with attorneys as he pleads guilty to kidnapping and murder.

Levi Aron (center) confers with attorneys as he pleads guilty to kidnapping and murder.

Photo: Richard Drew, Associated Press

Photo: Richard Drew, Associated Press

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Levi Aron (center) confers with attorneys as he pleads guilty to kidnapping and murder.

Levi Aron (center) confers with attorneys as he pleads guilty to kidnapping and murder.

Photo: Richard Drew, Associated Press

Plea deal in killing of Leiby Kletzky

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New York --

A Brooklyn hardware store clerk pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he abducted and dismembered an 8-year-old boy who lost his way home.

The guilty plea to second-degree murder and kidnapping guarantees Levi Aron a sentence of 40 years to life in a case that traumatized the victim's tight-knit Orthodox Jewish community.

Aron expressed no remorse and only hinted at motive: At one point he told the judge he felt "panic" when he found out there was a frantic search on for the boy, who was still alive in his apartment.

The judge asked him what he decided to do, and he responded simply, "Smother." He also answered yes when asked if he had bound and drugged Leiby Kletzky.

The plea deal means Aron could technically qualify for a parole, but only if he survives in prison into his mid-70s.

One of the city's most gruesome crimes in recent memory began with a chance encounter last summer on the streets of the Brooklyn neighborhood of Borough Park, home to one of the world's largest Hasidic communities outside Israel.

During an interrogation after his arrest and in a written confession, Aron recounted how the boy first asked for a ride to a book store. But "on the way, he changed his mind and wasn't sure he wanted to go."

The defendant described deciding to take the boy to a wedding upstate. He said when they returned, they watched television before the boy fell asleep. Leiby remained there watching TV the next day while Aron went to work at the hardware store.

By that time, Borough Park was buzzing over the disappearance. The boy's picture was plastered on light posts around the area.

"When I saw the fliers, I was panicky and afraid," police said Aron wrote. Once home, he added: "I went for a towel to smother him. He fought back a little until he eventually stopped breathing."